What an extraordinary trip! My heart is still filled with joy and gratitude for the special time I was able to spend with the most amazing group of people while visiting Cuba, not to mention a newfound appreciation for the abundance, freedom and power of choice we experience back home...

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Is consciousness generated by the activity of the brain or is it a fundamental property of the universe? The IONS research team has been studying this question for several years using various kinds of optical systems. Our latest experiments, published recently in the journal Physics Essays, confirm our earlier findings. This line of research suggests that consciousness may play a key role in how the physical world manifests.

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A newly published article in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience reviews the evidence and discusses the implications and potential applications of the phenomenon of presentiment that has been studied in some 40 experiments in a dozen labs. The article is by Julia Mossbridge, Patrizio E. Tressoldi, Jessica Utts, John Ives, Wayne Jonas and me.

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Today we honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., one of most influential prophets of peace and social justice in modern history. At IONS, Dr. King's messages of social activism, compassion, and universal community resonate powerfully. To celebrate the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr., we invite you to practice these Worldview Explorations-inspired activities—in the classroom, or at home.

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Thanks to a team of researchers, including scientists from IONS, the study of mediumship recently made its debut in the academic journal Frontiers in Psychology. This pioneering study funded by the BIAL Foundation investigated both the accuracy and the mental activity of mediums as they were tasked with communication with the deceased.

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How do you envision a world transformed? This is the question that sparked the beginning dialogue at a recent meeting of four like-minded organizations in Sedona, Arizona: the Institute of Noetic Sciences, Greenheart International, the Theosophical Society in America, and Integral Transformative Practice International.

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The bottom line is that if you believe/expect that you are consuming a specially treated substance, that belief alone will strongly influence your mood. But if the substance is also intentionally "treated," then it will influence you even more. And vice versa—if you don't believe, you're less likely to see any effect.

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Recently, IONS invited our eNews subscribers to share a few words on what the Noetic Sciences mean to them. We received over 200 responses and have generated a "word cloud" based on these submissions. Thank you to all who participated in helping us gather this collective intelligence!

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Critics are fond of saying that there is no scientific evidence for psi. They wave their fist in the air and shout, "Show me the evidence!" So I've created a SHOW ME page with downloadable articles on psi and psi-related topics, all published in peer-reviewed journals.

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Two TEDx talks I gave last year have both just been released on video. In December I spoke at TEDx Napa Valley on "The Science of Interconnectedness." Earlier in the year I gave another TEDx talk at Black Rock City in the Nevada Desert for Burning Man 2012. I hope you enjoy these talks as much as I enjoyed giving them!

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We completed our analysis of the collective consciousness experiment at Burning Man, Dean and I just returned from a trip to teach an intensive 20-hour workshop on the Noetic Sciences in Italy, our laboratory will be moving this month, and more...

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Data analysis has just been completed on the experiment that IONS research scientists collaborated on at Burning Man just over a month ago. The report on the experiment is now available, and there are some significant results!

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What happens when we die? And how does asking this question imbue our lives with greater health, happiness, and pro-social behaviors? Thanks to the support of over 550 of you, we have been able to dig deeply into these questions and more through the 'Death Makes Life Possible' project. Here’s what we’ve been up to.

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In connection with an upcoming workshop I'm leading in Italy next month with my colleague, IONS Senior Scientist Dean Radin, I was recently interviewed about what we'll be doing at the workshop. The interview includes a discussion of Noetic Sciences and Psychology, and how Noetic Science is relevant to practice in a clinical setting.

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A few days ago I was in southern California visiting Deepak Chopra, and while I was there we sat down for a short conversation about nonlocality. Our conversation was just posted online as a 9-minute video that is part of the "Ask Deepak" series.

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Just this week, IONS Senior Scientist Dean Radin was interviewed in Los Angeles by Elizabeth Vargas of the ABC News program, 20/20. Dean was interviewed along with several other scientists about the science of premonitions, and now the producer is looking for people who have had a premonition and are willing to talk about it on camera...

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Michael Bloch, PhD, is a new scholar in residence here at IONS, working on a number of projects investigating the effects of olfactory stimulation on mind-matter interactions, as well as studying hemispheric and olfactory involvement in presentiment tasks.

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After nearly eight years as the editorial director at IONS, my final day was May 31. An alignment of constellations—personal, professional, and, well, cosmological—made it clear that it’s time to chart a new course.

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For the last few years we have been exploring the possible role of consciousness in the physical world through an effect known as the quantum measurement problem (QMP). This refers to a curious phenomenon whereby quantum objects behave differently when they are observed than when they are not observed.

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This is the third edition of Breaking News, giving you the latest updates on what's happening in Research at IONS. Recently, Cassi gave two presentations at the International Symposia for Contemplative Studies, which was hosted by the Mind and Life Institute and cosponsored by several other organizations including IONS.

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I just returned from an exciting conference held at the biotech company, Promega. The meeting was entitled "Final Passages: Research on Near Death & the Experience of Dying." This eleventh in a series of bioethics forums was held in Madison, WI, April 26–27, 2012, and focused on scientific research into social and ethical issues around dying and near-death experiences. A stellar lineup of global experts addressed a wide range of topics as well as the implications of current research for understanding consciousness.

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This is the second edition of Breaking News, giving you the latest updates on what's happening in Research at IONS. Last week, three of our visiting scholars participated in the "Toward a Science of Consciousness" conference hosted by our longtime friends and collaborators at the Center for Consciousness Studies at the University of Arizona...